Excerpt from the General Plan Initiative. Underline denotes language GPI adds to the 1982 plan.  Strikeout denotes deletions. Use your browser's back button or click here to return to the table. Download entire text of the General Plan Initiative in pdf format (.4MB, requires Adobe Reader).
	26.1.4 Development Directed to Community Areas. To reduce both taxpayer costs and environmental impacts, new urban development shall be directed to the unincorporated Community Areas of Boronda, Castroville, Pajaro, Chualar, and Fort Ord, where an adequate level of services and facilities (such as water supply, sewer systems, fire and police protection, transportation infrastructure, and schools) currently exist, or can be expanded or provided. The areas inside the urban development boundaries described in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Policy 26.1.3.2 and shown on Map 1 and Maps 1a through 1e are generally suitable for urban development. (See Appendix A.) Areas outside the urban development boundaries are suitable for long-term protection of agriculture, natural resources, public health and safety, and buffers between community areas and cities. The County shall designate growth areas only where there is provision for an adequate level of services and facilities such as water, sewerage, fire and police protection, transportation, and schools. Phasing of development shall be required as necessary in growth areas in order to provide a basis for long-range services and facilities planning.      (a) Road Capacity Required. New development within the urban development boundary of any Community Area shall be phased so that all necessary public infrastructure and services, including highway and road capacity, are completed prior to or concurrent with the new development.      (b) Adequate Water Supply Required. New development within the urban development boundary of any Community Area shall not proceed without establishing that there is a permanently sustainable water supply available to serve the new development. Prior to approving any new development within a Community Area as designated in Policy 26.1.3.2, the appropriate County decision-maker shall make a finding based on substantial evidence provided by the water supplier or, in the event that there is no water supplier for the Community Area, by the landowner that there is a permanent sustainable water supply to serve the new development.      (c) Subdivisions Outside Community Areas. Lands outside the urban development boundaries of the Community Areas of Pajaro, Castroville, Boronda, Chualar, and Fort Ord shall be subdivided only when the proposed land division achieves one or more of the following objectives: (i) The merger of small parcels into one or more large, contiguous, and agriculturally viable parcels that will remain exclusively in a soil-dependent agricultural use or exclusively in a conservation use. (ii) The creation of a parcel or parcels for exclusive agricultural or grazing use, when any such parcel is viable for agriculture or grazing and is permanently deed restricted to agricultural uses. (iii) The creation of a parcel or parcels for transfer, sale, or donation to a federal, state or local government agency, or to a state-recognized nonprofit group, when any such parcel is permanently deed restricted to protect and conserve such parcel for exclusively agricultural, open space or resource protection uses, or for a public use compatible with the permanent protection of the parcel exclusively for agricultural, open space, or resource protection uses. (iv) Compliance with the provisions of an approved vesting tentative map, development agreement, or other similar legal commitment made by Monterey County prior to the effective date of this policy, if such vested tentative map, development agreement, or other commitment by the County has provided the landowner with a vested property right. (v) The creation of a residential cluster development consistent with all the following provisions: The clustered subdivision will result in new residential units being located immediately adjacent to a city or community area that is capable of providing adequate services, and is conditioned so that such services are in fact provided; The clustered subdivision will not increase the number of legal parcels existing as of January 1, 2006; The clustered subdivision will achieve permanent protection of significant natural resources, or agricultural land; The clustered subdivision will not result in land use conflicts between the clustered homes and adjacent uses; The clustered subdivision will not overtax the County’s ability to provide adequate infrastructure and services; and The clustered subdivision will not be developed on slopes over 25%, within a critical habitat, or within 100 feet of a riparian corridor.      (d) Primary Residences on Existing Legal Lots of Record. (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of the General Plan, a property owner shall be allowed to construct a single, primary residence on any legal, undeveloped lot of record existing on the date that this Policy becomes effective, providing that the construction of such residence is otherwise consistent with the County’s development standards and zoning ordinances. (ii) A property owner shall be allowed to construct auxiliary or accessory structures consistent with the County’s development standards and zoning ordinances. (iii) A property owner may only construct one primary residence on any legal, undeveloped lot of record existing on the date that this Policy becomes effective, providing that the construction of such residence is otherwise consistent with the County’s development standards and zoning ordinances. 26.1.4.3 A standard tentative subdivision map and/or vesting tentative and/or Preliminary Project Review Subdivision map application for either a standard or minor subdivision shall not be approved until: (1). The applicant provides evidence of an assured longterm water supply in terms of yield and quality for all lots which are to be created through subdivision. A recommendation on the water supply shall be made to the decision making body by the County’s Health Officer and the General Manager of the Water Resources Agency, or their respective designees. (2). The applicant provides proof that the water supply to serve the lot meets both the water quality and quantity standards as set forth in Title 22 of the California Cod of Regulations, and Chapters 15.04 and 15.08 of the Monterey County Code subject to the review and recommendation by the County’s Health Officer to the decision making body.